The White Fire
by LucretiaDecoy
Summary: Set after the end of the series, the gang are settled into routine in their adult lives, until Kuwabara, Botan and Yukina all separately encounter the same child, each experiencing something that throws their lives in chaos, and shortly leads to the gang being dividing into 4 groups of 2, relegated to separate realms of existence to find the one fix for the problem: The White Fire.
1. Coffee and Conversation

**Chapter 1 – Coffee and Conversation**

Coffee and conversation. It was literally the only item on the really quite long list that Keiko could genuinely say she enjoyed. She tried again, reading down the list, her brow furrowing and rising as she contemplated each item. It wasn't so much that she had no interest in the other items on the list, but rather more that she just didn't feel passionately enough about any of them to want to commit herself to them. She had a basic understanding of politics but did not feel strongly for any particular political party or belief; she was interested in visiting foreign lands but had no particular destination or journey in mind; she tried to walk where she could rather than take the bus but hardly felt that qualified her as a hiker or exercise enthusiast; even though her parents owned a restaurant she was far from fanatical about cuisine; she enjoyed movies and the theatre but had no special passion for either; photos were something she partook in; she had no burning desire to be a housewife or mother; she didn't care much for dancing other than occasionally when she out with her friends; and when it came to friends, she found that she had spent so little time with anyone since starting at Kyoto University, she felt checking friends as an interest would seem dishonest too. And finally, her last two options of "interests" were "career" and "coffee and conversation": the latter was a warming and comforting idea and the former was terrifying.

Keiko had no idea what sort of career she wanted.

On advice of her teachers in high school, she had entered into a degree in politics – which, as she eyed the unchecked option of "politics" as an interest on her form, she began to feel ridiculous about – simply because her teachers had advised her that she was a good all-rounder, good in debating exercises and diplomatic in her dealings with staff and students. At the time, she had felt flattered by that assessment, but, as she embarked on her second year of studies and found herself feeling increasingly lost and detached, Keiko had begun to think that maybe what her high school teachers had really meant was that she was adequate in all subjects, but not enough of a stand-out in any particular area to merit studying something more specific like medicine, engineering or law. It was like they saw her as someone non-exceptional and non-spectacular, and so sent her on the route of becoming yet another non-exceptional, non-spectacular politician. They had seen her then exactly how she felt she had become in life: bland. As bland as coffee and conversation.

And maybe her old high school teachers weren't the only ones who thought Keiko was bland. Maybe all her old friends thought of her that way too. Maybe Yusuke thought of her that way. Maybe that was why his visits were becoming less and less frequent, shorter in duration each time, with a distinct air that he felt visiting her had become a chore and always ending with the two of them arguing. Maybe the sense of encroaching blandness in her life was why Keiko had gone out across the campus seeking an extracurricular activity to participate in. Maybe she wanted to start something new so that she wouldn't always be checking only coffee and conversation. Maybe all of it was why instead of choosing an activity, Keiko had accepted an application form for a student-based, student-run, dating agency.

It wasn't that she wanted to find a new boyfriend – after all, she had Yusuke, same as always – it was just that the girl handing out applications had been so lively and Keiko was at least curious to know what the dating scene would be like, were she ever to become single.

But what sort of match was "coffee and conversation" going to find her?

With a sigh, Keiko neatly folded the form in two, put the lid back into her pen to save the ink from drying out, returned the pen to the appropriately sized section of her stationery organiser, left her room, walked down the hallway, and posted the form into the handmade, heart-shaped wooden box hanging on the wall.

Walking back to her room Keiko smirked to herself as she thought about how there ought to have been an option for "curiosity" as an interest.

* * *

Kuwabara inhaled sharply through his nostrils, his hands forming into fists, the one bunched around the strap of his backpack at his shoulder crushing the strap until it squeaked in complaint. He had passed several overly-enthusiastic girls since the start of the semester all trying to force forms for their "dating agency" onto him, and he had almost grown weary of telling them (as politely as he could) to back off. He thought the idea was just an excuse to bring together students who met up at parties anyway, in what they probably thought was a more sophisticated setting – or simply a more efficient way for them each to separate their wheat from the proverbial chaff – and even if he had thought it a good idea, he would hardly have indulged in it, since he had already met his dream girl: the lovely Yukina.

Kuwabara's love for Yukina was pure, noble, unwavering and beyond all doubt: something he had once thought also applied to the love shared between his good friends Yusuke and Keiko. And yet, despite that, despite the fact that Yusuke and Keiko had been side-by-side since before Kuwabara had even met either of them, despite the burning memory of how attuned to Yusuke Keiko had been during the Dark Tournament and their battle against Sensui, despite memories of multiple times Botan, Shizuru and even Kurama had voiced their beliefs that Yusuke and Keiko were soulmates, destined to be bound together in love forever more, despite all of that, Kuwabara had just witnessed something that shook his entire belief system regarding eternal love.

Keiko was even smiling, her head held high, a skip in her step, as she walked away from delivering her form to the student dating agency.

Kuwabara slunk back a step to avoid falling into Keiko's line of sight, pressing his back to the tree he had been spying on her from behind, drawing in a deep breath and sighing it back out before leaning around the other side of the tree, peering around the trunk at the glass-walled hallway behind him, watching as Keiko continued back along the corridor beyond with no sense of hesitation or doubt, apparently sure and in fact also quite pleased with her decision to seek out a new boyfriend.

Kuwabara sighed again and moved around to once more rest his back against the tree trunk, readying himself to contemplate what he had just witnessed, what it all might mean, what he ought to do next (should he approach Keiko, challenge her on what he had witnessed her do, should he warn Yusuke or should he seek advise from someone wiser on such matters, like Kurama or his sister?), but before he could even begin to weigh up his options, he found himself suddenly facing a girl dressed in the uniform of the university track team: a disguise that might have actually made her inconspicuous had she not decided to furnish it with a pair of over-sized, round, mirrored sunglasses and a large knitted scarf she had haphazardly thrown over her head, clutching it in place with one fist bunched by her chin.

"What do you suppose that was all about?" Botan asked Kuwabara, somehow managing to peer at him over the top of her enormous sunglasses, which had slipped down, barely held in place by the very tip of her nose. "Keiko just completed a form for the dating agency and posted it into the application postbox. Do you think she wants to enlist the services of the agency?"

Kuwabara groaned.

"Could Keiko be looking for a new boyfriend?" Botan continued. "Might that be why she's completed a form for the dating agency and posted it back?"

Kuwabara tried to give Botan the flattest, most admonishing look he possibly could. She frowned slightly, before making a small "oh" sound and whipping off her dark glasses and scarf.

"It's me, Botan," she said, pointing at herself as her sunglasses landed on the lawn with a soft clatter and her scarf floated away in a warm breeze. "I'm in disguise."

"I knew it was you, Botan," Kuwabara grumbled.

"And I've come prepared."

Kuwabara yelped as Botan deftly slipped a hand down her top and – seemingly from between her breasts – retrieved a screwdriver. She grinned and wiggled her eyebrows at him as she twisted it in the air between them, but her grin vanished as quickly as it appeared, replaced instead by a perturbed pout.

"I do hope a flat-headed screwdriver is the right instrument for the job," she pondered aloud. "Perhaps I should have packed both types of screwdriver, and a couple of different sizes…"

"Put it away, Botan!" Kuwabara snapped, making a grab for the tool, which Botan somehow, surprisingly, moved out of his reach with little effort.

"Calm down, I know what I'm doing!" she retorted. "I've done this sort of thing many times before."

Kuwabara gulped, his hand moving away from the screwdriver and slowly falling to his side.

"Wh-what sort of thing before?" he asked nervously, his mind spiralling rapidly beyond the realms of logic as he tried to count the many ways Botan might want to use a screwdriver.

"Removed the door from a postbox and stolen the contents of course silly!" she replied, as though her answer was both obvious and a minor affair.

"Botan, don't!" Kuwabara warned hurriedly, making another failed attempt to take the tool from her hand. "It's none of our business! We can't go around stealing other people's mail!"

"Well excuse me Mister, but the steadfast romance between two of my very best friends being potentially at risk is very much my business," Botan snootily replied. "And you ought to make it yours too!"

Kuwabara turned his head, looking back out across the lawn at the offending postbox, mounted on a wall just inside a set of doors that opened out onto a small patioed area, sheltered from the warm sun by a stylised wooden awning, under which laid a plain table with four chairs: the two chairs facing out across the lawns of the campus were occupied by two girls who were presumably agents for the amateur dating agency, and the two chairs opposite them laid vacant, awaiting their next potential client.

"So, shall I distract whilst you dismantle the box, or will you distract whilst I retrieve Keiko's application?" Botan asked, bringing Kuwabara's attention sharply back to her. "I do have more experience at jimmying open postboxes than you do Kuwabara, but I am also better at lying to women than you are… Hmm, now that I think about it, you're not really my best accomplice for this task…"

"Botan, we can't dismantle the postbox and steal Keiko's application!" Kuwabara wailed.

"It's not "stealing", Kuwabara," Botan replied with a frown, shaking her head almost admonishingly at him. "You make it sound like I intend to commit a crime here!"

"You're the one who said you need an "accomplice"!" Kuwabara pointed out.

"Yes, I do need a better accomplice," Botan continued obliviously, rubbing her chin and rolling her eyes skyward in thought. "Yusuke would really be the best accomplice for an act of larceny such as this one, but I can hardly ask Yusuke to help me here, since the whole point of this exercise is to stop Keiko from finding a new boyfriend without Yusuke knowing she was looking for one in the first place…"

"Maybe it's not what it looks like. Maybe Keiko was just posting an application for her roommate, because she was too shy to do it herself."

"Kurama would be good for this task also, he has a long and colourful history or deceiving others, and those daydreaming girls would surely be charmed by his gentle voice, his disarming charm and his inoffensive good looks…"

"You can't tell Kurama about this, Botan! You can't tell anyone! It's between Keiko and Urameshi, it's nothing to do with me, you, or Kurama!"

"I wonder what Yukina is doing this time of day…"

"Hey! You leave Yukina out of this!"

"Hmm, I could bring her here on the ruse that I was just taking her here to visit her good friends Keiko and Kurama… And also Kuwabara, I suppose…"

Kuwabara opened his mouth to again object to Botan's desire to involve Yukina in what was already possibly quite a messy affair, but his voice failed him as the implication of her words truly sank in. Slowly, he closed his mouth again and his shoulders sagged as his brow furrowed.

"Those really are our only options," Botan concluded, meeting Kuwabara's eyes again. "Well now, don't look so downtrodden that I didn't choose you to assist me in this task!"

"Is that really what you think?" Kuwabara asked in a low voice, Botan's that remark having barely even registered with him. "About me and Yukina? You think we're just friends?"

Botan opened her mouth and held up a finger as though to reply, but remained frozen in that position for some time, her uncharacteristic silence only making the moment seem longer and more strained than it already was. Kuwabara slowly and solemnly nodded his head.

"Oh, well, no, not exactly," Botan hurriedly recovered, forcing a smile despite her eyebrows being awkwardly bunched together in a frown. "It's obvious to anyone that you care very deeply about that sweet, sweet girl!"

Botan took a prolonged look over at the dating agency's table before brightening as a new idea occurred to her. She turned back cheerfully to share her thoughts, but suddenly found herself alone.

"Kuwabara?"

She barely spoke his name loudly enough that he would have heard her had he still been standing where he was, but a part of her had already resigned itself to the fact that he was long gone.

"Well that was odd…" she muttered. "And now I'm going to have to do this all by myself…"

She gave one last look about herself to confirm that she was alone before starting across the lawn towards the offending postbox, screwdriver in one hand and her flimsy disguise in the other.

* * *

Kurama sighed almost silently and closed his eyes just long enough for the ball of crushed paper to tumble through his hair, over his shoulder and finally land on the desk by his wrist. He calmly opened his eyes again, the brilliant glare of the large screen at the front of the lecture hall stinging his sensitive vision against the otherwise dark of the cavernous room. He slowly moved his eyes down to the crumpled paper, his slender fingers silently unfurling it. As he revealed the message within, he was even less amused and more than a little concerned: Kuwabara's first three missiles had missed their target and landed in the hands of other students, and Kurama could only hope they would not understand the meaning within.

'KY joined dating agency, B knows, do you think Y really loves me.'

Kurama swallowed hard and crushed the note in the palm of his hand, forcing a tight smile over his shoulder at the two girls leaning over him attempting to make out Kuwabara's note. Although his glance backwards had been aimed at the girls and had been brief, the fox demon had still noticed, on the very edge of his vision, Kuwabara agitatedly fidgeting in his seat.

"Excuse me," Kurama said softly and quietly to the student sitting next to him.

Sweeping up his notes under one arm and using his other arm to ease his way past the three other students between himself and the steps, Kurama freed himself into the aisle, without drawing attention of the teacher or even very many of the students. He started up the steps towards the row Kuwabara was placed in – some habits really did die hard, and Kuwabara, despite being long removed from the high school delinquent he had once been, still always chose to sit at the back of every class – his intention being simply to sit down next to his friend and encourage him to be silent until the end of the lecture.

"Kurama!" Kuwabara blurted out, shooting to his feet and lumbering awkwardly over chairs and bodies alike to reach the aisle.

Kurama cleared his throat and forced another smile as a ripple of whispers spread across those immediately around them. Finally sensing the ruckus he had caused, Kuwabara paused, looking about himself with wide eyes, before taking a more considerate approach to exiting the seated area.

"I mean uh… Shuichi," he said, far louder than was necessary. "Hey, buddy."

He slapped Kurama on the shoulder a couple of times and Kurama bore it patiently before ushering him out of the lecture theatre altogether. After slipping through a heavy door, they stepped out into a brightly lit hallway that felt welcomingly cool and open after the stuffy atmosphere of the crowded lecture hall.

"Kuwabara, the latest topic of Botan's gossip is a matter that can surely wait until after class," Kurama said, holding up the ball of paper between them.

"No, you don't understand, Kurama!" Kuwabara responded, taking the paper from him and smoothing it out. "I was using everyone's initials so's nobody else would understand the note! It says "Keiko Yukimura joined dating agency, Botan knows, do you think Yukina really loves me"."

Kurama blinked, his initial feelings of agitation giving way to compassion – something his human side had brought more and more to the fore of his character over the years – and he softened a little as he gently took the note back from Kuwabara and crushed it in his fist.

"Kuwabara, Keiko is taking a class in psychology, specifically in the psychology of cults and radical political groups," he gently explained. "I have no doubt that, if she has indeed joined United Hearts, she is merely doing so as research for her latest paper. Botan will be panicking about it because she has an unhealthy obsession with what she believes is the romantic relationship between Yusuke and Keiko. And as for Yukina–"

"United Hearts?"

Kurama paused, finding Kuwabara was looking at him in a manner that appeared as curious as he himself felt.

"That's the name of the dating agency," Kurama flatly replied.

"It is?" Kuwabara muttered. "That's weird, some girls were trying to get me to sign up, but none of them said it was called that…"

Kurama swallowed a little louder and a little harder than he had intended to, but Kuwabara appeared not to have registered the gesture as a gulp, and so Kurama inhaled smoothly and continued.

"Yes, they do call it that. And you shouldn't worry about it. As for Yukina, you must know that she – much like almost everyone else, human and demon alike – may not be as demonstrative and vocal about her feelings of love as you are, but that doesn't mean she feels it any less."

"Yeah, that's right."

Kurama paused long enough for Kuwabara to offer a more convincing answer or tone, but when neither came, he found himself forced to say something he already knew would fall on deaf ears.

"Don't do anything rash, Kuwabara."

"Which way is the art department?"

Kurama was so taken aback by Kuwabara's bizarre question, he found himself pointing and answering it mechanically and on instinct, as his mind still tried to fathom why Kuwabara would need to know such a thing.

"But our class is this way, and not over yet," he added, pointing at the doors they had exited moments earlier.

"Take notes for me, buddy," Kuwabara called over his shoulder as he began jogging off in the direction of the art department.

Kurama inhaled and sighed softly before retreating back into the lecture hall, silently hoping that Kuwabara would not rush to Yusuke with what Botan had told him, but rather would simply pay a visit to Yukina, whose sweet and calm nature would surely ease his nerves and bring him back around to his senses.

* * *

"Ow."

"I didn't start yet."

"Ow."

"You don't even sound like you mean it."

"Well I do. Ow. Wait-ow!"

Shizuru smirked and let out a short chuckle as Botan snatched her hand back and stared down at her fingers with wide eyes.

"Isn't healing your deal, big blue?" Shizuru asked the ferry girl.

"Yes, and clearly gentle and considerate removal of splinters from fingers isn't your deal, Shizuru!" Botan sulkily replied.

Shizuru narrowed her eyes as she clicked shut the old ice cream tub she used as a first aid box – a tradition her mother had used, and, after her mother's passing, Shizuru had continued in order to allow her to tend to her younger brother's wounds over the years – and she waited until Botan's pink eyes had finally lifted from her fingers.

"Remind me again why you had a splinter in your finger, Botan," she asked, lowering her tone just enough to convey her sense of gravity.

"It was injury I sustained in the line of duty," Botan replied, her face taking on a vaguely feline quality.

"Duty, huh?" Shizuru asked with a lop-sided smirk. "Of course. I forgot ferry girl duties include ferrying the souls of the dead to the afterlife, spying on other people and occasional random acts of petty criminal behaviour."

Botan gasped and closed her injured hand into a fist.

"Is it a crime to care about love?" she asked.

"No," Shizuru replied, standing up from her seated position at the foot of her bed. "But it's generally considered not okay to go around hacking apart someone's craft project with a flathead screwdriver."

Botan pouted.

"I took the wrong type of screwdriver…" she muttered, sinking lower into the pillows of Shizuru's bed until she was almost lying fully on her back.

Shizuru nodded and started across the room to store her first aid box back on the top shelf by her window.

"It was for a very worthy cause," Botan mumbled. "I was acting in the name of love."

"I heard you the first time, sweetie," Shizuru flatly replied as she stretched an arm up to the shelf. "You thought you saw Keiko posting an application form into the dating agency postbox, so you broke the thing with a screwdriver, then you got caught before you got the chance to steal the contents."

"You make it sound like I did something silly," Botan complained.

"I'm pretty sure you've got nothing to worry about with Keiko and Yusuke," Shizuru assured her as she replaced the box. "And even if you did, it's none of your business."

Shizuru turned around and found her last statement had brought Botan up onto her knees in the centre of the bed, her eyes sparkling with outrage.

"It is none of your business, Botan," Shizuru repeated. "If Keiko wants to date someone else, that's her business, not yours."

"But true love lasts forever, and Yusuke and Keiko are truly in love!" Botan protested, punching her injured hand into one of Shizuru's pillows without so much as flinching, proving that the injury had not been nearly as bad as she had pretended it to be.

"People change, passion fades," Shizuru solemnly replied. "Trust me."

"I can't accept that," Botan responded, her tone suddenly as solemn as Shizuru's.

"Why? Because you care so much about Keiko and Yusuke, or because you're in denial about your own big romance?"

Shizuru softly sat down on the end of her bed again, watching as Botan crawled over and shuffled around to sit beside her.

"People express love differently," she said quietly, her eyes on the ground as she spoke.

"That's true," Shizuru agreed.

"Especially demons," Botan continued, wriggling her socked feet against the carpet. "It's more of a physical thing for demons – they don't care so much for words or grand romantic gestures."

Shizuru gently stroked a hand over the top of Botan's head and played her fingers down the length of the ferry girl's powder blue ponytail.

"Sweetie, I just don't want to see you get hurt –"

Botan stood up so abruptly she left behind several strands of her hair between Shizuru's fingers.

"You don't understand," she said tightly, summoning her oar and throwing open Shizuru's window.

"I do understand, sweetie," Shizuru replied, shaking loose Botan's hairs and rising to her feet. "You know I do. That's why you confided your secret in me. You didn't tell anyone else because you knew they wouldn't understand, but I do."

Botan turned her head, glaring back at Shizuru from the corner of her eye.

"What do you understand?" she asked.

"How it feels to be in love with a man who is incapable of loving you back."

Botan turned her head sharply back to the window. She lingered there for a prolonged moment, and during that pause, Shizuru silently hoped that the ferry girl would stay. That she would take her up on her invite to just spend the day drinking beer and watching hilariously awful foreign films. That she would not go. That she would not go out looking for him. That she would not go out, full of hope and excitement, and come back miserable and dejected again.

"Thank you for your help," she said softly.

"Botan, don't!"

Shizuru lurched towards the window and reached out a hand, but Botan leapt out and onto her oar with admirable speed and agility, and was shortly high in the sky and heading west: which was the exact direction Shizuru could vaguely sense the arrival of a demon presence within the living world.

Shizuru sighed and closed the window. She could only hope that Hiei would either one day actually develop feelings for Botan and return her affection or else let her go so that she could move on: because since the two had been conducting a passionate affair in secret, Botan had been losing an increasing amount of her cheerfulness and usual pep, and she was surely only headed for heartache.

* * *

Kurama knew that he really ought to have said or done something, but something held him back. Instead of intervening, he simply stood quietly and watched through windows as Kuwabara finished applying fabric paint to a long length of cloth and then said a few words to the art teacher before exiting the room. He moved out of Kurama's line of sight for some time, before emerging out onto the campus lawn, where, despite the fact that the fabric paint was still visibly glistening and wet even from Kurama's extended viewpoint, he tied the length of cloth around his head and paused to strike a rigid pose with squared shoulders, determined jaw and set eyes. The fabric paint spelt out "love's warrior", and in between the two words he had painted a blood-red heart.

Kurama just hoped that visiting Yukina would calm Kuwabara and not merely accelerate his insecurity regarding her feelings towards him: for as sweet and caring as she was, Kurama highly doubted Yukina would ever return Kuwabara's affections. It was a fact Kurama was sure Kuwabara was already aware of – and perhaps had been all along – but in recent years, he had become increasingly agitated by the fact that Yukina never did directly (or even indirectly) acknowledge his feelings, let alone show any inclination to return them.

Kuwabara had a big heart, and Kurama worried it might soon be broken.

And, as though as a physical representation of his thoughts, Kurama turned his head to see that someone had destroyed the postbox United Hearts had made for application forms for their services, scattering the contents. Seeing it that way, Kurama was silently glad he had not posted his application after all, lest his form end up in the wrong hands. It had not been that he expected much to come of it, but, some part of him (surely the human part, he told himself) had peaked his curiosity and so he had, in secret, collected an application form the night before. With a sigh of resignation, Kurama retrieved the folded paper from his pocket, opening it out, the sight before him reminding him why his human side would never truly be dominant.

After all, he had only felt compelled to check off one interest from the list of suggestions, one thing he felt he could possibly share with human woman: coffee and conversation.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Kuwabara crosses the country (literally) to visit his love Yukina, and although she is glad to see him, he doesn't necessarily feel any more reassured. Botan has a similarly unsettling tryst with Hiei and Kuwabara is side-tracked on his way back from visiting Yukina when he stumbles across an opportunity to rescue a kitten. **Chapter 2 – Her Alibi**


	2. Her Alibi

**Chapter 2 – Her Alibi**

Kuwabara marched up the steep stone steps to Genkai's temple with unwavering determination, the sensation of Yukina's feeble demon energy signal reaching him only acting as a catalyst to drive him ever onwards. He had never doubted his feelings for Yukina, he had always loved her, and he had always known – on a spiritual level – that she was his soul mate. They were bound together by a force greater than both of them, and that, he knew, was what true love was.

Although Kuwabara's true love was the sort of love that saw him abandoning his studies just to see Yukina's sweet smile and hear her say his name, whereas Yukina's true love was the sort of love that was very subtle: so subtle, Kuwabara sometimes worried that maybe it did not exist at all, and that rather he was just projecting the emotion on to her.

It was not something he had ever consciously thought about at first. Whilst he had still been in high school, still living in Sarayashiki city, he had been able to visit her almost daily, and he had always felt content just to be in her company. But, after he moved away to attend university, when he found himself only able to see her every other weekend, Kuwabara found himself missing Yukina painfully. He counted the days between their visits and was always ecstatic to see her, but Yukina seemed to feel no differently. She lived alone, in Genkai's temple – which she had taken ownership of following Genkai's passing – and when he did visit her, no matter how long they had been apart, she would greet him with a pleasant smile and nothing more. It was the same way she greeted Shizuru, or Botan, or Keikio, or Kurama, or even the wart-faced old man at the ramen stall they sometimes ate at.

It seemed as though she was not as enthusiastic about Kuwabara as he was about her. It seemed as though she perhaps did not feel as deeply for him as he did for her.

It seemed as though she thought he was as significant as the wart-faced man at the ramen stall.

Kuwabara drew in a deep breath as he reached the top step and Yukina came into his line of sight. She was standing on a small, decorative bridge, the sleeves of her yukata rolled up high above her elbows, her hair clumsily piled into a messy bun at the back of her head, and she was using a pool leaf net to skim the top layers of algae from the koi pond.

"Yukina!" he called out to her as he found himself jogging towards her. "Hey, baby!"

Yukina's head snapped up and she almost dropped the net, looking a little flustered for a moment before melting into one of the sweet smiles she always gave to anyone greeting her.

"Kazuma!" she said, discarding the net on the lawn a little awkwardly. "How nice to see you!"

She started towards him, very smoothly unfurling her hair from its ties and letting down her sleeves.

"I wasn't expecting you today, what a lovely surprise to see you!" she said, stopping three steps in front of him.

Kuwabara pushed down memories of Keiko running at Yusuke and throwing herself into his arms every time they met and grinned back at her.

"I just thought I would drop by," he said instead.

Yukina covered her mouth with one hand and let out a small giggle before her mirth gave way to confusion.

"But Kazuma, don't you have classes to go to today?" she asked.

Kuwabara hesitated before answering her, noticing something in her face that he had only really come to notice recently, despite it having always been there: even when she was frowning at him, there was not a single line or crease in her skin. He supposed it was just a part of being a demon, and the fact that she was a demon had never bothered him before, but just lately he had seen some of her more demon qualities as something that put a bit of distance between them.

"Uh, yeah, I kinda do," he awkwardly answered her.

"Well then why did you come here instead?" she asked, sounding no less curious, and almost frowning harder, and yet still not showing any expression lines on her flawless, porcelain, demon, skin.

"I just… Wanted to say hi, and see how you're doing."

Yukina blinked in a slow and deliberate manner before purposefully looking about herself.

"Everything here is fine," she concluded. "I hope you didn't come here because you were worried about me. I'm doing just fine. You should concentrate on your studies."

Kuwabara numbly nodded: she was being reasonable, but somehow he was not satisfied with her response.

"It's really nice to see you though Yukina," he mumbled.

"It's really nice to see you too, Kazuma," she replied, smiling sweetly.

"I miss you when I'm away," he added.

Yukina gave another small, short chuckle, her smile widening.

"Do you… Do you miss me, Yukina?" Kuwabara asked her. "When I'm not around, do you miss me?"

"You have responsibilities away from here, and I have plenty to do here, you shouldn't worry about me," she answered, only deepening his uncertainties.

"Uh right, yeah. But… Do you wanna get some tea or something before I go back?"

"No thank you."

Kuwabara sank – physically, emotionally and mentally – as Yukina smiled up at him, seemingly oblivious to how hurt he was by her immediate and definite rejection. The thought occurred to him then that he had literally walked in on Yukina siphoning heavy, wet gunge out of a pond, and now she was standing before him stating that she preferred getting back to that task over having tea with him.

It was not exactly how he pictured their romance in his head.

"Okay," he reluctantly agreed, untying his hurriedly made bandana. "I guess I should head back. But, you know, if you ever need anything, or even if you just wanna go get some tea sometime you can just… Heh, you don't need to do anything actually, I'll know, and I'll come back here for you."

"Oh, you're giving this to me?" Yukina asked as Kuwabara found himself handing his bandana to her. "That's nice."

She hardly sounded convinced, but she gave him another of her sweet smiles, and, despite the fact that he increasingly longed for more from her than just one of her sweet smiles, Kuwabara found himself smiling back, his adoration of the ice maiden overwhelming the feelings of insecurity and need for reciprocation that often reared up within him.

"Study hard and eat well!" Yukina said, waving a hand in goodbye despite the fact that he had made no movement to leave just yet.

"Uh, yeah, I will. Thanks, Yukina," he replied, awkwardly waving back and starting to back away from her.

"Goodbye, Kazuma!"

"Goodbye, Yukina. I…"

Kuwabara stopped, several steps back from Yukina. She was still standing on spot, his bandana draped over one of her upturned hands, the other hand waving to him as she continued to smile so sweetly at him.

"I love you, Yukina."

Still she did not move. Her hand continued to wave, her smile remained in place, and it was almost as though he had said nothing at all. Kuwabara swallowed hard and nodded before turning around and walking off.

Usually, when he reached the temple gate at the top of the stone steps down into the forest, he would turn around and wave his hand high in the air and call out one last goodbye to his love: but that day he did not even hesitate, instead continuing through the gate and down the steps, maintaining a brisk pace without any thought to even look back or slow down.

Until he heard the soft sound of sobbing, echoing through the misty forest.

Kuwabara stopped short, turned around, and began to run in the direction of the forlorn sobbing.

* * *

Hiei swiped the back of his hand across his lips. It was a quick gesture, one it was clear he gave no thought to, but for Botan, it was an insult. It was as though he had to wipe away her kiss. She stopped where she was, balanced on one hip, ripening barley brushing against her bare back. Hiei continued to fasten his pants and readjust his shirt before grabbing up his cloak and sword. He then turned his back on her and made to walk away.

"Hiei!" she yelped, launching herself at him and awkwardly catching the leg of his pants with one hand.

"Hn?" he grunted, halting to glower over one shoulder at her.

"Where are you going?" she asked, peering up at him from her awkward position, sprawled over the ground and clinging to his pants.

"Away," he stiffly replied, turning his head in the direction he had been moving in. "Let go of me."

Botan paused just long enough to consider that letting go of Hiei was exactly what Shizuru had been telling her to do for the last several months – basically ever since she had confided in her friend that she had become involved with Hiei – but no part of her was prepared to do that. She could not let go of his pants, and she could not let go of him.

"Don't you want to stay a little longer?" she asked.

"No," he frankly replied. "Why would I?"

"Well, I just…" Botan began, feeling her face grow hot in a mounting blend of humiliation and devastation. "I wanted to…"

"Do you need me to finish you off?"

Botan's mouth opened but words failed her. Hiei was once more looking down over his shoulder at her, but he looked almost bored and irritated by the question he had just asked her.

"I warned you before about pretending to be satisfied," he added. "I don't have time for games."

"I…" Botan began, shaking her head, her half-loosened hair shimmying over her bare shoulders. "I wasn't pretending."

Her voice sounded about as small and pathetic as she felt, sprawled awkwardly in the middle of a barley field, naked bar her socks, clinging (literally) onto someone who had shown no inclination to want anything from her other than satisfying his own carnal desires.

"Then let go of me," he said, turning away and squaring his shoulders, his cloak ruffling around him to settle more smoothly down his back.

"I wanted to cuddle."

Botan chewed on her lip as she watched her fingers tighten, pulling the loose fabric by Hiei's calf into her fist.

"It-it's what normal couples do after… After sex."

She dared to look up at him, but was not surprised to find herself looking at the back of his head.

"Let go of me," he simply said again. "I won't ask you again."

"Oh well," she said, releasing her hold. "Maybe next time."

She splayed out her fingers behind his leg and watched them blur until she could no longer count how many fingers she had.

"Don't bother with that nonsense, you know I don't like it."

Botan blinked away the tears forming in her eyes and sighed indignantly before drawing breath to argue back: but Hiei had taken off before she could speak, leaving her choking on the cloud of dust he kicked up in his wake. Her eyes blurred again and she told herself it was particles of dirt getting into her eyes, it was because she was choking.

But, as her breathing settled, and as the air cleared, Botan found herself kneeling alone in the middle of a field of barley, her kimono flattening the crops to one side of her where it had been discarded, her sandals and oar thrown clear of her line of sight, and, other than a warm, comforting feeling deep in her loins, no clue that she had ever been anything other than alone where she knelt.

She was almost glad when she heard her communication mirror softly blipping somewhere several feet away: returning to spirit world would take her away from the living world, which had become the place where Hiei met her for their little trysts, and the place where Shizuru would give her that disappointed, pitying look that bordered on the infuriating at times. At least in spirit world nobody knew that she was in love with a demon, nobody knew that she was breaking her heart falling deeper and deeper in love with a creature that, for the most part, seemed both unwilling and incapable of ever returning her feelings.

Even just a little bit of affection would have been nice, she thought bitterly, just a hug, or a kiss on the forehead.

But Hiei had come from a difficult upbringing, a difficult life, a loveless existence: he just needed time to adjust, time to learn to trust her, time to open up to her, time to learn that it was okay to express feelings of love in simpler, more romantic ways.

She had to tell herself that. The alternative – the idea that what she had with Hiei was as much as she could ever have with him – was simply too much to bear.

* * *

"Hey kid, what are you doing all the way out here on your own? Are you lost?"

The little girl gasped, scrambling to her feet from her previous position slumped at the base of a tree. She shuffled back several steps before screaming as her heel hit a gnarled root, almost taking her from her feet.

"Hey, whoa, it's okay!" Kuwabara assured her, holding up his hands. "I'm not gonna hurt you! But you're a long way from anywhere out here. Where are you parents? How did you get here?"

She little girl sniffed, frowning up at him through large, tearful eyes.

"I was looking for my kitty," she moaned pitifully.

"Your kitty?" Kuwabara echoed.

She nodded.

"My kitty didn't come home last night," she continued. "So I came out here to find him. He's so small, I'm scared something ate him!"

She began to sob and Kuwabara yelped.

"No, no!" he hurriedly responded. "Don't cry! We'll find your kitty, I promise! I'm an expert when it comes to cats!"

The little girl tilted her head to one side, one more tear sliding down her face before her eyes finally began to dry.

"What does your little kitty cat look like?" Kuwabara asked her.

"He's orange," she replied. "And his name is Kazuma."

Kuwabara grinned.

"My name's Kazuma too!" he told her cheerfully. "Kazuma Kuwabara, protector of cats! Let's find your kitty, then let's get you both back home!"

The little girl nodded and held out a hand towards Kuwabara. As she was just a little girl – probably no more than six years old – and out in a part of the forest a considerable distance from any roads or houses, Kuwabara thought nothing about taking hold of her hand. She started to walk surprisingly briskly, her hand wrapping around his with a surprising strength for a forlorn little girl, and Kuwabara shortly found himself jogging awkwardly to keep pace with her, slightly bent over in order to keep hold of her tiny hand, which was so much lower down than his own.

"I see him!" she declared suddenly, coming to an abrupt stop.

Kuwabara stumbled to avoid running right into her, his eyes following her free hand, which she had pointed up ahead of her. He scanned the trees but saw nothing – and even felt nothing – to show where the missing kitten might be.

"Lift me up!" she insisted, spinning around to face him and tugging at his hand. "Lift me up onto your shoulders, I can reach Kazuma that way!"

"Um, okay, I guess," Kuwabara agreed.

He stepped forwards and picked up her. He continued lifting and placed her on his shoulders despite the fact that he could feel his blood turning cold in his veins, the sickening sensation of having just stepped into a demon's territory washing over him.

"Uh, which tree did you say your kitty was in?" he asked. "And what did you say your name was?"

"Her name is Setsuna."

Kuwabara frowned at the girl's reply, a strange sensation crawling down his neck and spine as she placed her tiny hands on the top of his head.

"I thought you said your kitty was called Kazuma?" he asked quietly.

"The little girl is named Setsuna."

Kuwabara swallowed hard.

"So… There's no kitty up in that tree, right?" he asked, a cold sweat bursting from the pores of his forehead as he felt her tiny fingertips press against his skull.

"Kazuma is orange," the little girl replied. "But he won't be that way for long."

* * *

Hiei would have gladly kept his head down and continued on his way, offering probably little more than a nod of acknowledgement: but when he noticed the small device in Yusuke's hand, bearing the emblem of the palace of spirit world, he sneered and instead moved himself directly into the mazoku's path.

"Hey Hiei, what's up?" Yusuke greeted him.

"Where are you going?" Hiei asked, his eyes on the device in Yusuke's hand.

It was the same device Botan carried on her, a communicator that allowed Koenma to page her at the most inappropriate of times with the most ridiculous of demands.

"Spirit world," Yusuke replied, waggling the device in the air between them as he came to a stop just a few steps away from Hiei. "Koenma called. Some crap about a low-class demon that's been causing mischief in the living world. Probably just another rat demon stealing food and screwing wild rats. I doubt you'd be interested. Though if you wanna go instead of me…"

Yusuke grinned and raised his eyebrows, extending him arm towards Hiei, offering him the communicator.

"Hardly," Hiei spat venomously. "Spirit world's petty problems are their own and hold no interest for me. And you ought not to be bothering yourself with them either."

"Well, y'know, I could argue that a demon escaping into the living world is kinda the problem of the Border Patrol…" Yusuke replied, pretending to look pensive.

"Hardly," Hiei scoffed.

Yusuke grinned and grabbed one of Hiei's shoulders and shaking him with excessive force.

"Relax short-stuff, I'm just busting your balls!" he said.

Hiei had always found that particular expression to be an odd one, but said nothing, instead waiting for Yusuke to let go of him before moving on again. From the corner of his eye he saw Yusuke turn around to watch him leave.

"So, uh…" Yusuke called after him. "Does this mean you don't wanna come with me and find out what's going on?"

"I already told you, I don't concern myself with spirit world's petty problems," Hiei harshly replied, keeping his head forward and without breaking pace, keen to increase the distance between them as quickly as possible.

"So should I just let Koenma tell Mukuro you let your guard down, you slacked off, you let a piss-ass E Class demon get by you and start screwing rats?"

Hiei growled but still did not break pace. It was not the first time recently that Koenma had called on Yusuke with some pathetic, transparent excuse about a minor demon somehow passing into the living world: and every time Yusuke was called, the reports were false, and every time the call coincided with Hiei having one of his meetings with Botan. He was well aware that the communication device she carried was basically a tracking device spirit world used to follow her every move, and despite the fact that he always threw it away from her, despite the fact that he always warned her not to bring it when meeting him, somehow Koenma had still been able to track it, still been able to register that one of his ferry girls was going off-radar and was still having the childish, unsubtle response of summoning Yusuke under the ruse of needing his help.

The only part Hiei had yet to figure out was whether Yusuke had realised yet that Koenma was consistently calling him for no reason, or whether Koenma had actually just taken Yusuke in under his wing, and shared his reasoning with the masoku.

Hiei grunted and squared his shoulders. He was almost certain Yusuke did not know what was really going on. He doubted Yusuke could keep silent if he did. The idiot barely kept silent about his knowledge regarding Hiei's relation to Yukina: if he knew Hiei was regularly meeting up with Botan for sex he would surely be making crude, supposedly subtle jokes about it around the others. The last thing Hiei needed was anyone else finding out about what he was doing with Botan. He was amazed (and secretly impressed) that she had not told anyone about it herself, but he knew that there was always a danger it would one day come to light.

He snarled and angrily swiped a hand at his cloak as he noticed a single, slightly wavy, strand of blue hair, looking remarkably colourful next to the black of his garment. That was exactly the sort of thing he feared the most: something trivial revealing his secret. But it was not like he could just stop, even if someone else did find out what he was doing.

Hiei sighed and quickened his pace, clearing his head and continuing back to start his next patrol duty.

* * *

Yusuke knocked, for a second time, on the door he was standing unreasonably close to, his patience started to wear thin when he still did not hear any sound from within the room. He sighed and focused his attention again at the door, but again he sensed nothing within.

It was like Kuwabara was not in his dorm room.

Yusuke still kept a communication mirror on him, and he usually only used it to communicate with Koenma, but, out of desperation, he took it out and tried to contact Kuwabara. When the mirror did not fully respond, he concluded that Kuwabara maybe did not have a communicator after all, and so he would have to find his friend the old-fashioned way. With a sigh of irritation, he turned and jogged down the hallway, back to the communal entrance to the student dorm.

"Whoa!" he blurted out, stumbling to an awkward halt as he found a small cluster of girls crouching over shards of wood and piles of mail strewn across the floor. "What happened here? Did someone go postal?"

One of the girls looked up at him sharply, clearly anything but amused by his remark.

"I bet it was you who did this!" she spat, pointing a brightly painted fingernail at him.

"Calm down girl, I just got here!" Yusuke replied.

"It wasn't him, it was one of the girls from the track team," another of the girls explained.

Yusuke paused for a moment longer before deciding he was safe to skirt around them and move on. He ran at a human pace until he was clear of the university campus and had taken himself off of major roads and out of sight before breaking into his full speed, taking himself back to Sarayashiki city. If Kuwabara was not at school, the only other two places he could logically be would be either back at his dad's house or up at Genkai's temple checking on Yukina. He decided to start with the Kuwabara family home, mostly because he was hungry and Shizuru usually offered him food more readily than Yukina did.

Before long the house was in his sights and he slowed to a human pace until he was almost at his destination, stopping abruptly short when he suddenly spotted Kuwabara at the other end of the street, walking towards him.

"Hey, I was looking for you, Kuwabara!" Yusuke called out, waving a hand above his head.

Kuwabara did not respond to his greeting, but did continue walking towards him at a steady pace. Yusuke slowly walked forwards, bringing himself to the garden gate to wait, his thick, dark eyebrows slowly lowering and drawing together as he found it increasingly odd that Kuwabara was still making no effort to move any faster nor acknowledge his presence. He looked a little irritated, and from the direction he was approaching, it appeared as though he was returning home from a visit with Yukina. It was unlike him to be irritated by anything involving the ice maiden he was so besotted with, though it was not unlike him to be a little down at the thought of leaving her, so Yusuke assumed that was the case, and offered his friend a smile as he joined at the gate.

"Hey, how's it going?" he asked.

"What are you doing here?" Kuwabara responded, his voice low and unusually gruff.

"It's nice to see you too, buddy," Yusuke dryly replied. "And I'm here because Koenma called me–"

"I'm not interested," Kuwabara cut him off.

Yusuke was so taken aback by Kuwabara's response, his friend had brushed past him, travelled the length of the garden path and entered the house before he thought to respond.

"Hey!" he protested. "Just because you can't carry Yukina around in your rucksack like one of your dumb schoolbooks doesn't mean you should get out of doing crap for spirit world!"

Kuwabara turned to the doorway, looking back out at Yusuke with an expression Hiei would have been proud of for its indifference.

"Did Koenma ask for me?" he asked.

"Well no, but–"

"Then deal with it yourself, Urameshi."

Yusuke's jaw dropped as Kuwabara stepped back inside the house and slammed the door shut.

"Gees, what's eating you?" Yusuke yelled.

When he received no answer, he angrily pulled out his communication mirror once more, reaching out to Kurama. He did not have to wait long for an answer, Kurama's calm demeanour almost infuriating under the circumstances.

"Yusuke, you're in the living world?" Kurama asked him.

"What the hell's eating Kuwabara?" Yusuke demanded, ignoring Kurama's greeting entirely.

"Oh, you've encountered him today?" Kurama replied.

"He just slammed the door in my face!" Yusuke returned, his anger overcoming common sense and justifying the exaggeration.

"He's been growing increasingly restless, and today he left class – he left halfway through an actual lecture – to visit with Yukina. He fears she does not return his affections."

"So?"

Kurama frowned.

"Yukina's just…" Yusuke began, waving his free hand in the air as he tried to find the right words to say. "She's not exactly… I mean she doesn't really… I don't know! He's stupidly in love with her, and she just wants to pick flowers and speak to birds and shit!"

Kurama smiled, but looked vaguely pained at the same time.

"Yes, well, I think after all these years, Kuwabara is starting to realise that Yukina does not feel for him the same way he feels for her," he said. "That as much as he loves – and indeed has loved – her, she really is only interested in "picking flowers and speaking to birds"."

Yusuke sighed.

"Well that's hardly my fault," Yusuke sobered.

"Perhaps it's best just to give him some space, and some time," Kurama suggested.

"Yeah, I guess," Yusuke groaned. "Let him go through puberty while I've gotta go to spirit world and deal with Koenma all on my own…"

Kurama sighed and again gave a pained smile.

"I'll meet you there, shall I?" he offered.

"Yeah, sure."

Yusuke snapped the communicator shut before Kurama could change his mind: if he was really lucky, he might even be able to offload whatever stupid mission Koenma had onto the fox demon. Yusuke cast one last glower at the door Kuwabara had slammed shut, before turning to leave.

But, halfway around, Yusuke stopped short, his eyes landing on a figure walking down the street towards him.

Although he had no reason to wait, Yusuke decided to. He could have just waved a greeting to Shizuru, but instead he waited, by the gate, and watched her walking towards him at a steady, confident, unhurried pace. One arm was draped at her side, weighed down by two rounded bags of groceries, her other arm bent up, her fingers elegantly curled around a cigarette. She was wearing skin-tight jeans and a shirt with a large collar, partially covered by a neat-fitting, dark-coloured waistcoat. Her height, her even pacing, her flawless long hair and her slim and toned figure made her look like a catwalk model.

Or one of those really hot girls from Megallica's music videos.

"Hey," Yusuke greeted her as she drew nearer.

"Hey," she replied. "What is it this time? Did my baby brother do something dumb, or does spirit world need him for something dumb?"

Yusuke grinned.

"Come on in, I'll make you something," Shizuru offered.

Yusuke nodded and gladly followed her up the garden path, all thoughts of Kuwabara's unusually surly behaviour long gone from his mind.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Still bothered by the idea of a stray demon in the human realm, Hiei goes to check on his sister. Botan visits Keiko to discuss the meaning of true love, and although it doesn't go as Botan had hoped, she soon forgets all about it when, on her way back from visiting Keiko, she stumbles across an opportunity to help a little girl in need. **Chapter 3 – Flying Shadow**


	3. Flying Shadow

**Chapter 3 – Flying Shadow**

Kurama nodded his head politely when Koenma's eyes once more landed on him. The atmosphere in Koenma's office was becoming stifling, and the sounds of the prince's fingers drumming on his desk combined with the quivering and whimpering of his ogre assistant were starting to become tedious and irritating.

"Where is that idiot Yusuke!" Koenma burst out suddenly, slamming both hands on his desk and standing up in his chair.

"I believe he lingered after I departed the living world," Kurama calmly replied.

"This is hopeless!" Koenma winged, sinking back into his throne.

"Kuwabara has been a little out of sorts lately, Yusuke was concerned about him."

Kurama paused to silently acknowledge that he was lending the situation far more finesse than it deserved, before smoothly continuing.

"Perhaps we should begin without him. I can always relay a message to Yusuke if need be."

Koenma sighed, a look of clear resignation passing over his childish features.

"Yes, I suppose you're right, Kurama," he agreed. "I suppose Yusuke probably thinks I want to send him on another wild goose chase, and maybe I do…"

"Another rat demon in the sewers of Sarayashiki city?" Kurama asked.

"Maybe."

Kurama sighed.

"Or maybe it's a crow."

Kurama frowned.

"Or a cat. Or a dog. Or a bouncy ball."

Kurama swallowed hard, his frown darkening his eyes before he managed to respond.

"Are you saying what I think you are?" he asked Koenma in a low voice.

"I'm afraid so," the prince forlornly replied.

"Are you sure about this?" Kurama asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Koenma solemnly answered.

"How long?"

"How long have I known or how long has it been in the human world?"

Kurama's eyes widened and Koenma slowly nodded.

"This is serious," Kurama concluded, spinning on his heels and starting for the door.

"Yes, it is serious!" Koenma cried out. "It's very serious, so you can't go!"

"I must," Kurama insisted, opening the door to take his leave. "We don't have time to waste talking about this."

* * *

Hiei's booted feet clicked softly against the wooden floors of the temple as he slowly made his way through it. He knew where he was going – he could sense Yukina's demon energy at the back of the temple, he could just barely hear her softly humming a tune to herself, and he could smell that she was brewing tea in the kitchen – but still he took his time getting to her, looking about the temple as he went. Typically, when he had visited his twin sister in the living world, Genkai had still been alive, and she had usually sensed his approach and met him outside. Even after the old lady had passed, there were very few times Hiei had been forced to actually enter the temple to find Yukina, and so a small part of him was sure that the sense of change he felt was purely down to his lack of knowledge and experience of the temple interior.

But not only did the interior look different, it sounded different – his footsteps did not echo around large empty rooms and high walls like they once had – and it smelled different.

Hiei entered the dining area ahead of the kitchen as Yukina exited the kitchen, carrying a tray with a pot of steaming hot tea, two empty tea bowls and a bowl of sugar.

"You knew I was coming," Hiei concluded aloud.

"No, Mr Hiei," she replied, smiling sweetly, as she always did. "But what a lovely surprise to see you here!"

Hiei narrowed his eyes at her tray as she moved it towards the dining table.

"Why did you lay out two bowls if you were not expecting company?" he asked gruffly.

"I always make two bowls of tea," she smoothly replied as she placed the tray down and knelt down at the table. "I drink one myself, and I let the other cool down for Puu."

Hiei started to ask who Puu was before remembering that Yusuke's spirit beast often resided at the temple, something it had done more frequently since Genkai's passing, after Yusuke had expressed a wish to keep the place protected.

"I've never heard of a bird that drinks cold tea," Hiei grumpily observed as he knelt down opposite his sister.

"Puu isn't a bird, Mr Hiei," Yukina sweetly replied. "He's Mr Yusuke's spirit beast."

Hiei was a little irked that she was correcting him, but he swallowed back the urge to argue, and instead nodded in agreement. Yukina poured tea into each of the bowls before stirring two spoons of sugar into one bowl and passing it over the table to Hiei. He waited for her to place it down, which she did after holding it up for a few seconds and then finally accepting that he would not take it directly from her. It was not that he wished to be rude, it was just that her hands were cold, and touching her reminded him of the ice maidens, reminded him that she was physically the same as them even though she was mentally and emotionally very different from her people.

Yukina smiled sweetly at him as she lifted her own bowl of tea before bringing the bowl to her lips to take a drink. Hiei, out of courtesy, lifted his own bowl and likewise took a sip. It was sweeter than he would ever admit to enjoying, and found himself taking a bigger mouthful than he had intended. As he gulped it down he caught a glimpse of a strange look pass over Yukina's features.

"Does something amuse you?" he grumbled, thinning his eyes at her.

"The tea is still so hot," she lightly replied, her sweet smile once more in place. "But the heat doesn't seem to bother you. I suppose you don't notice, being a fire demon."

She lifted up her bowl and took another sip, but her large, blood red eyes remained fixed on Hiei, and even though most of her face was hidden behind the bowl and her hands, he did not fail to notice that strange look pass over her eyes again.

"Shouldn't you get a third bowl?" he asked, hoping to distract her from the topic of his own lineage. "For the bird."

"Oh no, it's fine," Yukina replied. "Puu isn't here today."

Yukina lifted the bowl to her lips again and again Hiei saw that odd look pass over her large eyes: but this time he felt a strange pang in his gut as he saw it, the realisation of what she had said sinking in and hitting him hard. He was angry, he wanted to ask her why she had two bowls if one was not for the bird, as surely that was proof that the second bowl was for him, that she had been aware of his approach, aware for long enough that she had had the time to prepare a pot of tea ahead of his arrival: but equally he felt a little apprehensive to ask, a part of him not wanting to hear her answer.

"This is a very singular life," he said instead. "Living up here alone, as you do. You come from the ice village, a small place with many people living closely together. Why do you choose to live like this now?"

"I'm not alone here," Yukina replied. "I have Puu, most days, and I have plenty of friends who visit me here very regularly."

"Kuwabara?" Hiei asked.

"Kazuma visits me from time to time, when he can. Botan visits me regularly. Shizuru comes up on her motorbike and she brings me clothes and presents."

"Why?"

Yukina's face twitched, a hint of a frown appearing.

"Botan and Shizuru are my friends," she replied.

"Why does Kuwabara's sister bring you gifts?" Hiei asked. "Is she trying to buy you for her brother?"

Yukina chuckled softly behind one hand.

"No, it's nothing like that," she assured him. "I make things for her. We help each other. Because we're friends."

Hiei grunted and took another sizeable gulp of his tea. It was comforting to know that more capable and less naïve people like Botan and Shizuru were regularly visiting Yukina to keep her safe, and although it was reassuring to know that Yukina was settled where she was, it was still slightly sickening to think that his own sister had settled into a life in the human world, of all places.

In one more gulp he had finished his drink and was on his feet. Yukina placed down her own bowl and made to stand up, but he held up a hand to halt her movement.

"I'll see myself out," he assured her.

"Oh," she said, sinking back down to her knees. "It was lovely to see you, Mr Hiei. I hope I see you again soon."

Hiei nodded and took his leave, walking back out of the temple slowly, looking about himself again as he went, again vaguely aware that the temple seemed different. Despite taking his time to leave however, he did not manage to fathom what was so different about the temple – or even how many things were different – and as soon as he was outside, satisfied that Yukina was safe, he took off back to demon world.

* * *

Botan pressed her fingers to the floor and leaned forwards, peering around the legs of the desk she was crouched beside, her eyes narrowing as Keiko came into her line of sight. Her friend was distracted, deep in thought, one hand pressed against the book laid on the desk in front of her, her other hand supporting her chin. It was an old trick, Botan thought darkly, one she had caught Koenma using one too many times: concealing a note of interest within the pages of a book, pretending to be studying the book but instead poring over something far less official.

Botan crept forwards, remaining crouched and using her hands to support her as she moved across the library floor, edging closer and closer to the desk Keiko was silently sitting at. She wanted to get as close as she possibly could without being detected, and when she managed to reach the side of Keiko's legs and still her friend was completely engrossed in her reading material, Botan stood up abruptly.

Still, Keiko did not respond.

Botan sneered in irritation and immediately leaned over Keiko's shoulder.

There was no note. Keiko was, in fact, just reading a book. A book about an election campaign from a few decades earlier.

"Interesting book?"

Keiko shrieked and jolted in her seat, before clapping her book over her mouth and looking about herself with wide eyes, colour flooding her cheeks as she noticed the accusatory glares she was receiving for her outburst. After a moment she replaced the book to the desk and turned in her seat, her face red, her entire body visibly shaking and her brown eyes a shade darker than usual as she fixed them onto Botan.

"Why did you sneak up on me like that?" she hissed.

"I didn't sneak up on you!" Botan lied dismissively. "You just seemed so serious, I wondered what you were looking at."

Botan snatched up the book and held it page-side down, shaking it furiously in an attempt to dislodge any notes Keiko may have hidden within it.

"Botan, what are you doing?" Keiko squeaked, standing up and wrestling the book out of her grasp.

Botan eventually acquiesced and released the book, but maintained her suspicious glower as she eyed Keiko over.

"I was studying," Keiko whispered, smoothing the book shut and tucking it under one arm. "But I guess I'm finished for now."

She started to move to return the book to its rightful place, wincing as she heard Botan skipping after her a little heavy-footedly. As she slid the book neatly back on the shelf she had taken it from, she slowly moved her eyes to her right, where she saw Botan standing very closely to her, watching her in a vaguely irritated, vaguely accusatory manner.

"Is everything alright, Botan?" Keiko asked her.

She turned from the shelf and signalled for the ferry girl to follow her out of the library. Once they had stepped out into the open corridor beyond, Keiko was glad Botan had waited before answering her question.

"No, everything is not alright!" Botan wailed, her voice echoing off the high walls.

Keiko glanced back over her shoulder at the library doors to ensure they were fully closed and that nobody was coming to see what the ruckus was about, before moving on and urging Botan to walk with her.

"What's happened?" she asked. "Is it a problem in spirit world? In the human world? In demon world?"

"All three," Botan replied in a low, almost sinister, voice.

"What's happened?" Keiko yelped, stopping abruptly, her heart picking up pace as she began to fear the worst.

Botan sighed, and appeared to be steadying herself: whatever she was about to say was clearly going to be quite catastrophic, Keiko thought darkly.

"I saw you, Keiko," Botan eventually said, her voice still low.

"Wh-what?" Keiko responded, Botan's words catching her off-guard.

"I saw you, Keiko," Botan repeated, her voice slowly rising in pitch and volume. "I saw you posting an application to United Hearts! I saw you applying for a new boyfriend! As if Yusuke stopped existing!"

Keiko nervously looked about herself to ensure they were alone, that nobody else had heard Botan's words, before answering.

"You were spying on me?" she hissed. "Botan! What have I told you about spying on people?"

"You told me not to!" Botan replied indignantly.

"And yet you still did?"

"Yes, and isn't it just as well that I did, because now I can save you from ruining your life!"

"You're being dramatic."

"Dramatic? You're slaying the greatest love of all!"

Keiko sighed and stepped closer to Botan.

"Botan, I'm not in love with Yusuke," she admitted.

Botan's jaw dropped and her face paled, as though she had just heard the most horrifying thing ever.

"I'm not saying I don't care about him," Keiko quickly added. "But… Things change. People change, time passes, life changes… I just don't feel like there's any common ground between us. And what people say about opposites attracting… It's just not true!"

Botan suddenly looked like she might cry.

"Please don't blow this out of proportion, Botan," Keiko pleaded. "Yusuke and I have been drifting apart for a while now. Even when we argue it isn't as heated or passionate as it used to be. We just… We're just not a good match."

"Not a good match?" Botan repeated, her voice sounding strained and hoarse.

"Not really, no," Keiko confirmed. "We're growing further and further apart. He feels more at home in demon world, and I can't live there, and he won't give it up and come to live here."

"You can still be together," Botan argued. "Coming from different worlds doesn't mean you can't be in love or be together!"

"Well… If neither party is willing to relocate… It kinda does mean we can't be together. I know you care about me, and you care about Yusuke, and you've always been so supportive of our relationship, but our relationship has changed. We're just not in love. We're just not right for each other."

"No!"

"And yes, I did put an application in to United Hearts, but filling it in made me realise I have a lot to understand and develop about myself before I even think about rushing in headfirst to another relationship."

"True love conquers all!"

"Yes, it does. And Yusuke and I love each other, but just not in that way."

"But you should fight! You should fight for love! You should never give up!"

"Botan, no offence, but this is really between Yusuke and me. It's really… Sweet that you care so much, but it's just one of those things."

"No, it's not! If you love someone, you don't just give up on them! You don't love them less, you love them more! You love them and love them and love them until they love you back just as hard!"

Keiko frowned. Botan was shaking, her eyes blurry with uncried tears.

"Gee Botan," she said gently. "I had no idea you could be so… Empathetic."

"I am empathetic!" Botan wailed. "I do understand! I understand what demon world is like! I understand he has duties there! I understand it's his home! I'm not asking him to give any of that up! It doesn't have to be like that! Love can still work around two lovers living in different worlds!"

"I… Just don't see how it can," Keiko replied. "It's not like we didn't try to make it work –"

"You have to try harder! Love isn't easy!"

"No, but it shouldn't be this hard. It shouldn't be forced."

"Sometimes it has to be forced! Sometimes, someone from demon world especially, needs to have love forced upon them! They don't understand what love is, you have to force it onto them until they do!"

"But… Yusuke isn't from demon world… He's from here."

"You have to love him, you have to give him love and show him love – give him more love than you even feel, show it more than you even feel it – make him understand that what you share is love!"

"Botan… You're starting to sound delirious."

"And you're starting to sound just like Shizuru!"

Keiko narrowed her eyes.

"Did you tell Shizuru about this?" she asked. "Botan, I don't want you to tell anyone about me applying to United Hearts! I don't want anyone to know! I don't even want you to know!"

"Shizuru doesn't know what she's talking about anyway, so it doesn't matter!" Botan replied.

"Okay, just please don't tell anyone else, okay?"

"How can I? Sometimes I even find it hard to tell it to myself – but I have to! I have to believe it! I have to keep believing in the power of true love!"

Keiko smirked and snorted involuntarily.

"There's nothing funny about this, Keiko!" Botan snapped.

"I wasn't laughing at the situation," Keiko hurriedly replied. "It was just that you sounded exactly like Kuwabara just then! "Keep believing in the power of true love"!"

Keiko chuckled and Botan sizzled.

"You know, if I were foolish enough to think that Yusuke and I had a future together, that's how bad I'd be," she said with a smile. "I'd be as bad as Kuwabara, blindly chasing after Yukina, even though it's pretty obvious she doesn't feel the same way about him! You know, I used to think it was cute the way he chased after her, but now that we're a little more grown up, I honestly just think it's sad. Quite pathetic, and pitiful, actually."

"Demons don't express love the same way we do!" Botan argued back. "They don't say it out loud, they don't express it openly, they don't do romantic things, they aren't affectionate… You just don't understand!"

Keiko blinked hard as tears began to breach Botan's eyelashes and stream down her cheeks.

"Botan, don't you think this is a little unhealthy?" Keiko asked gently.

"It's not unhealthy, it's true love!" Botan whimpered.

"No Botan," Keiko said, shaking her head. "It's not love. Not real love."

Botan sobbed and swiped a hand at her falling tears.

"Honestly Botan, you seem unhealthily obsessed with a relationship that's not even a fraction of what you think it is," Keiko continued. "It's not real love now, it wasn't then, and it never will be. You have to accept that and move on."

Keiko reached out a hand to touch Botan's arm, but the ferry girl stumbled back out of her reach.

"Don't patronise me!" she snapped. "I know what love is! I'm not stupid! I'm not naïve! I do know what I'm doing!"

"I don't think that you do," Keiko replied.

"Then you're the stupid, naïve one who doesn't understand!"

Botan turned around and began to run away down the corridor.

"Botan!" Keiko called after her.

When Botan ignored her call and continued running, around a corner and out of sight, Keiko sighed in defeat.

"Well that went well," she grumbled to herself. "I can only imagine how Kuwabara will react when Yusuke tells him."

* * *

Botan stumbled awkwardly, falling onto her oar as much as sitting onto it, before taking to the skies. She was in shock. She flew into the branches of a tree, thin branch-ends whipping at her face and tugging at her hair, but she merely angrily swatted them aside and flew on. She was shaky and uneven in the air, but how could she possibly concentrate on flying after what she had just experienced? How could Keiko possibly say that she was not in love with Yusuke? True love never died, it was eternal.

It was impossible that love could just end. Just die. That feelings of love could just vanish.

Impossible.

Botan tried to focus her energy into flying and although she managed to straighten out her path, she found herself sinking slowly downwards. She had never felt so out of control since her first time learning to fly. It was like she was destined to crash, and no matter how hard she tried to prevent it, no matter how hard she tried to stay up high, she was slowly, inevitably, crashing down.

There was nothing metaphorical about that, she sternly told herself as she began slowing down in preparation for a landing she apparently could not avoid. Her inability to control her flightpath, and her inevitable, painful crash landing, were in no way a physical manifestation of how that niggling little voice in the back of her head always warned her the relationship she had with Hiei would end: after her failing to control the relationship, Hiei or herself, she would eventually fall from grace and land into a pit of pain and misery.

Botan yelped and groaned as she hit the ground and rolled over several times, her oar thrown free from her. She eventually landed on her back, but quickly had to roll over onto her stomach, sighing in relief as her oar clattered down onto the spot she had initially landed on. She hesitated before placing her open palms down against the cool wet grass and pressing her face down in between them.

"Are you alright, Miss?"

Botan's head snapped up and she found herself looking at a small pair of shiny shoes. She slowly lifted her eyes upwards, past white cotton socks, a plain summer dress that was a colour of blue she found very pleasing, before finally finding the face of a small girl peering down at her through curtains of shoulder length, perfectly straight raven hair.

"I'm fine," Botan lied, forcing a smile – something she was doing more and more over time – and pushing herself up onto all fours.

"It looked like you just fell out of the sky," the little girl commented.

Botan sat back onto her heels and laughed nervously, picking a twig out of her ponytail with one hand and swiping at a long, dark grass stain on her kimono with her other hand.

"You came crashing down like a shooting star!" the girl continued.

"No, I didn't!" Botan awkwardly replied, forcing more laughter. "Honestly, what an imagination you children have these days!"

"You were flying!" the girl replied. "On that oar!"

Botan slapped a hand at her oar, succeeding in pushing the blade away from herself slightly before laughing nervously again and looking about herself.

"Did-did anyone else see…" she began. "I mean…"

Once she had assured herself that there was nobody else in sight, that no other human had witnessed her crashing down from the sky aboard an oar, Botan began to calm a little, began to regain her senses.

And then it occurred to her just how unusual her situation actually was.

"What are you doing out in this field all on your own?" she asked, frowning at the little girl. "Did you run away from home? Are you lost? Are you playing hide and seek? You shouldn't be out here all on your own at your age!"

"I came here to gather flowers," the girl replied, smiling brilliantly and producing a small wicker basket Botan had not noticed before.

Botan craned her neck and peered into the basket, seeing a small collection of wild flowers.

"That's lovely, but you're an awfully long way from… Well, from anywhere, really…"

Botan stood up and looked about herself again, her attention moving fully to the fact that she was deep in the countryside and a little girl had just appeared there, apparently unaccompanied.

"Why don't I walk you home?" she offered.

"I can't go home, Miss!" the girl replied urgently.

"Why not?" Botan asked, thoughts of cruel parents forcing the sweet little girl to run away from home fleeting through her mind.

"I haven't found the last flower on the list yet!" she replied.

Botan nodded.

"Alright, let's look for it together, then let me get you back home," she insisted.

"Okay."

The girl took hold of Botan's hand and began to pull her across the field with surprising force, but Botan, eager to get the girl back to safety, gladly hurried alongside her, telling herself she could retrieve her fallen oar after she had gotten the girl safely home.

"So, what sort of flower are we looking for?" she asked.

"The Botan," the girl replied.

"The what?" Botan muttered, her face twisting curiously. "Did you just say the flower is called "Botan"?"

"Yes," the girl answered. "I have to gather the blue Botan."

Botan's face briefly dropped as she considered the irony in the fact that she herself was a blue Botan: pining over an unrequited love.

"So, what does the flower look like?" she asked.

"I see it!"

The girl stopped abruptly and pointed at a rock the size of a washing basin, surrounded by grass that was a little longer than the grass in the rest of the field, and a couple of plain white wild flowers.

"I don't see it," Botan replied, crouching to bring herself down to eye-level with the girl.

"It's right there!"

Botan leaned towards the rock, squinting through the blades of grass.

"Can you see it, Botan?" the girl asked.

"No!" Botan replied. "And I'm really looking for-wait a minute, I never told you my name is Botan…"

Botan frowned, placing a hand down onto the rock to steady herself as she leaned a little too far forwards, her blood running cold as she felt a jolt of something pass up the length of her arm from the rock. It was a feeling she had not experienced for some time, but one that she recognised instantly: the rock apparently marked the border of something's territory.

"Botan is blue," the little girl said softly, her voice suddenly very close to Botan's ear. "But she won't be for long."

"What do you–"

Botan stopped talking and stopped moving as she felt the girl's tiny fingertips pressing against her skull.

"Just let it go," she said, her voice so sweet, childlike and innocent despite the dark sensation burgeoning within the pit of Botan's very soul at her touch. "It's only one colour."

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Concerned she might have upset Botan, Keiko goes looking for her friend in the one place she most suspects she'll find her: but instead finds two other people she had not expected to find together. Yukina receives yet another visitor at her temple, but this visit is not a pleasant one as her visitor soon reveals she is not all she seems to be. And finally, finding himself compelled to linger in the living world just a little longer, Hiei has an unusual encounter of his own**. Chapter 4 – Heartless and Ignoble**


End file.
